The question went unanswered though Reece could still feel the Furdian in front of him and the Qilin below him. He had no choice but to trust that they knew what they were doing. Pure darkness with occasional flashes of light which Reece took to be pockets of air seemed to flow passed his vision. Then the light of day almost blinded him as they emerged straight out of the earth and up into the sky, free of the chamber and the secrets that lay buried far beneath the surface. They had somehow phased through the ground, solid rock, and the great wall before finally breaching the surface.

Unfortunately, he arrived right in the middle of the enemy. All around were nightmares carrying their riders toward the battle. It only took a moment before he was spotted, and the pursuit began. While the Qilin sped up to evade their pursuers, Reece suddenly felt a tickle in his mind.

“Have no fear,” said a deep gravelly voice in his head. “I will hold you tight so as not to fall. That will allow me to avoid the enemy more easily.”

The Qilin’s hide suddenly came alive, lashing Reece’s legs tightly to its body with thick locks of animated hair, the same thick hair that sprouted from its scaly hide. Putting two and two together, Reece surmised that the voice in his head belonged to the Qilin itself. It wasn’t an animal; it was an intelligent creature. Overcoming the shock just in time, Reece ducked as the Qilin narrowly avoided a rear hoof kick by a nightmare horse that dived just over the top of them.

Once the Qilin cleared the first flying horse, it turned slightly and flew between two more. The air was thick with the bat-winged undead and their human riders. Using its front claws, the Qilin ripped the throats out of both nightmares as it flew past the doomed creatures. They fell quickly to the earth below, their riders crying out as they fell with them. More of the horrid creatures swiftly filled the gap.

The Qilin wasted no time, springing from one nightmare to another, ripping out another throat, disemboweling another horse, and then pulling a rider from his saddle and promptly dropping him to his grisly death in the rocky terrain far below. Reece realized that this creature that he had allied himself with was a force to be reckoned with.

Smiling widely as the Qilin laid waste to the flying enemy before him, Reece picked up the sounds of hollering behind them. Turning his body to look, his smile quickly disappeared. At least thirty of the riders had turned their bat-winged mounts towards Reece and the Qilin and had taken up the chase. Several of them had long rifles and possibly other guns and were preparing to fire up the two of them.

“We’ve got company with guns and unpleasant dispositions,” yelled Reece to the Qilin. “Can you lose them?”

The beast snorted for an answer before suddenly diving straight down towards the ground. While the rocky terrain rose to meet them, Reece felt his guts tighten up. Instead of crashing violently into the rocks, the Qilin simply flew right through the rocks and earth like it wasn’t even there. Blinded again, Reece could feel the Qilin change velocity and angle itself until it flew back into the sky, clearing the ground for a second time. This time, it was Reece and the Qilin that were chasing the thirty-plus riders.

The Qilin wasted no time attacking the trailing rider, freeing his body from the burden of his head. The nightmare riders all tilted their heads to the side and squinted their eyes as if trying to decipher what was happening since their prey had just disappeared right into the ground. They had no idea that they were now the prey. The Qilin managed to take out several more before the nightmare riders caught sight of them. The Qilin’s maneuverability in the air was astounding. It was all Reece could do to hold on tight to the beast and hope the creature’s hairy hide was tougher than it looked.

Banking, weaving, clawing, and dodging through the throng of flying horses, the Qilin showed remarkable battle tactics. It only took another couple of minutes and the Qilin had killed or driven off the remaining nightmare riders. Quickly getting his bearings, he noticed that the battle continued to be waged all along the sprawling wall, but it seemed like the defenders were finally on the verge of victory, at least for today.

Gently pulling on the horns, Reece was able to steer the Qilin towards the battle and see if his friends could use a hand. The Qilin released his legs from their hairy cocoons and Reece breathed a sigh of relief. He felt like he had been on a rollercoaster just like an especially daunting one called the ‘Wild Thing’ from his early childhood. That old ride paled in comparison to what he had just gone through with the Qilin, however.

The Qilin, as if sensing Reece’s thoughts, flew him to the top of the wall. Reece breathed a sigh of relief when he saw some of his companions, though they looked like they had just gone through a meat grinder and had barely come out the other side. Bjorn, Sora, and Angel all looked weary like they had been fighting for days or weeks. Even the Phoenix, as blood splattered and dented as it was, seemed a welcome sight and mostly intact, a few ugly patch jobs helping to hold it together.

Reece wondered where they found the time to fix it up. Still, through all the blood, gore, grime, and dirt that covered their faces, they smiled widely and jumped up when they saw Reece land on the platform, alive and well and with a new friend. The new friend quickly became two when Chippo reappeared sitting upon the Qilin. Reece gave the Furdian a dirty look. He hadn’t even noticed the Furdian’s disappearing act. While running up to him, his companions and friends were wide-eyed and slack-jawed, some shaking their heads in disbelief.

Angel looked as if he had seen a ghost, the man jogging in the other direction, probably to gather the others.

“Hey, so where were you when we were being chased all over the sky?” asked Reece, only half-teasing the Furdian while he watched Angel in the distance.

“Silly, silly Reece. I’m no good for battles. I’m more of a lover and a thinker,” he replied haughtily before he started baby talking to the Qilin and mussing up its fur. “Besides, it seemed like the Qilin was up to the task. Weren’t you, big guy? Yes, you were. Yes, you were.”

“Please make him stop,” pleaded the Qilin, projecting its deep voice into Reece’s mind.

“Alright, Chippo,” chastised Reece. “You need to knock that off and get off of ...?”

“You may call me Shenfu,” came the quick reply.

“...Shenfu,” finished Reece.

“Oh, so you two are on a first-name basis then, huh?” asked the Furdian as it popped out of sight, only to reappear on Reece’s shoulder.

This time he was prepared and didn’t bat Chippo away.

By this time, Karina had thrown herself at Reece and Aika grabbed them both up in a hug.

“So, do you want to introduce us to your new friends?” asked Karina, a little half-smile on her face as she walked right up to Reece and wrapped him in a hug.

“Uh, yeah,” agreed Reece, while he ran his hand through her hair. “This is Chippo and Shenfu.”

“Chippo’s been with me for a while now and has helped locate the remaining pieces of the nightcore, and Shenfu just helped us escape from the chamber under the wall,” he continued, indicating his two companions in turn. “And guys, these are my companions; Karina, Aika, Bjorn, Sora, and Angel over there.”

Each of them nodded in turn at Reece’s introductions. Looking around, Reece caught sight of Hank and Dmitri sharing a meal with some of the wall defenders, a tough-looking bunch that was currently all smiling, Dmitri gestured wildly and often pointed at Hank while he told his story with relish. Reece pointed over at them next.

“And the big hairy guy there is Hank, while the storyteller is Dmitri. We met up with them in Norway where we joined forces against some pretty overwhelming odds,” explained Reece. “They’re good people. So, where are Aspen, Masika, Nephi, Nisha, and the rest? And, uh... I need to know, how long was I gone this time?”

Everyone looked away after the question was asked. Karina looked up at him.

“Most returned to the carrier. There are a few helicopters left on the wall and they took one for another mission when you didn’t come back after a few days. You should know, there was a heavy offensive by the Order. They sent some kind of monster-machine hybrids to take the wall. We fought them off, but Nisha went down in battle about a month ago. Both Rik and Dre sacrificed themselves to rescue her. She’s okay thanks to them, but Dre was killed instantly, and Ric lost an arm and leg pulling her to safety. At least Ric’s limbs will grow back, but it’ll take some time.”

“As for your second question, well...you’ve been gone for nearly six months,” answered Karina solemnly. “Luckily, we’ve found some helpful allies here that could supply us with fresh blood, but it wasn’t the same. We were busy fighting off the Order for the first four months. They seemed to have given up a couple of months ago, except for a few flyers that still patrol the area and the relentless attacks from the regular zombies of course.”

Hearing of the brave vampire’s death darkened Reece’s mood. Dre seemed like a good person and he had really made inroads with all the folks on the carrier. Reece made a mental note to check in on Nisha and Ric when he got the chance. Hargrove’s war on the planet had claimed too many lives, those of his friends, his allies, and the people that Reece didn’t even know.

“Is Shenfu a Kirin?” asked Aika while she cautiously approached the majestic beast, pulling Reece from his dark thoughts.

“Uh, I think he’s a Qilin, actually,” said Reece, but Aika didn’t appear to be listening to him.

Instead, she stopped moving, her eyes opening wide in surprise. She seemed to calm and even cocked her head to the side as if considering something. That’s when Reece deduced that the Qilin was probably speaking to her telepathically. After a few more moments, she seemed to snap out of it.

“Qilin, I guess,” she muttered, shivering with an air of reverence.

Seeing everyone paying attention to Shenfu, Chippo hopped from the Qilin’s back and onto the closest of the crumbling crenelations of the wall. Somehow, he made a show of it.

Reece noticed Karina was staring intently at the Qilin as well, obviously having a telepathic discussion of her own with Shenfu. Reece looked back at the Qilin, noticing its eyes shining brightly, seemingly enjoying the conversation. Suddenly, Karina burst out laughing. Reece whipped his head around at the sound, his eyes questioning while he waited for Karina to speak. Noticing the look that Reece was giving her, she explained, shrugging, “What? He said something funny.”

Reece merely frowned and cocked his head to the side in disbelief until he noticed movement behind her, drawing his attention away from the lilitu’s guilty look. Aika and Bjorn were walking behind her as they approached the grandstanding Furdian.

“So, your name is Chippo, huh?” said Aika, trying to break the ice. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Oh, you too, pretty, pretty lady,” replied Chippo, smiling happily.

Bjorn walked over and reached down with one meaty mitt to give Chippo a little rub on his head. He quickly pulled the hand back as it passed right through the little guy.

“What the...?” he gasped, looking back and forth between his hand and the Furdian.

“Oh, yeah,” cut in Reece. “Chippo is actually the ghost of a Furdian, um… think ‘weresquirrel’, but his species died out long ago.”

“Ahh, that’s so sad,” said Aika, a compassionate inflection in her voice.

“Ha hum,” came the sound of a man clearing his throat, polite yet insistent.

The sound came from behind Reece. He turned to see a man in dark green fatigues standing behind him. He looked to be in his mid-thirties with short-cropped dark hair and a hard look to him. His almond-shaped eyes had the haunted look of someone who had seen too much but still had the glimmer of deep intellect. His look softened as he attempted a smile, though it didn’t quite erase the tortured look on his face.

“We all wanted to thank you, all of you, for assisting us in our most desperate hour,” said the man in a thick accent, marking him as most likely native to China. “We’ve been defending this wall for years. Never had we been attacked by anything other than the Jiangshi but then the Longma and their riders started showing up. They were soon joined by the mountains of rotting flesh your Dmitri referred to as behemoths. It was as if they knew just when and where to strike us. Just like you, we have many powerful people on our side, but they were all busy at other sections of the wall. If you hadn’t shown up when you did, we wouldn’t have lasted to see another rising of the sun. The fact that you spent six months fighting side by side with us...well, you have our respect. So, again, thank you. We owe you all our lives. As I’ve already told your friends countless times, if you ever need anything, you have but to ask.”

“Hey, I gotta be honest,” replied Reece. “This was all you and my friends. I was unfortunately indisposed. Still, we're doing everything we can to save lives and put an end to these monsters. We only have one planet, right?”

The man just chuckled. "Yeah, can't argue with that."